• CHERYL G. CRUZ
Councilor Psyche Marie Sy has proposed that businesses engaged in the manufacture, sale, or distribution of police uniforms, insignias, and other accessories in Bacolod City must secure a PNP certificate of conformity.
Sy, chairperson of the Sangguniang Panlungsod Committee on Fire, Social Defense, and Natural Disasters, noted in her proposed ordinance that “the unauthorized manufacture, sale, and distribution of PNP uniforms, insignias, and other accoutrements impose serious concerns, since such symbolic PNP identifiers, instead of providing a comforting sense of security, could be used by lawless elements in the commission of crimes within Bacolod”.
Then President Joseph Estrada issued Executive Order 297-2000, regulating the production and trade of police uniforms and accessories, and banning the use of these items by civilians.
EO No. 297 imposes as penalties the immediate closure of establishment, cancellation of business license or permit, condemnation, seizure and forfeiture of unauthorized items, and imposition of reasonable fines for violators, all of which could be undertaken by local government units concerned, Sy said.
Under Sy’s proposed PNP Certificate of Conformity Ordinance, any violator will be fined P3,000, and/or imprisoned for not more than six months, at the discretion of the court.
This ordinance shall cover all businesses, whether physical, online, or in digital platforms, engaged in the manufacturing, selling, and distribution of Philippine National Police uniforms, insignias, and other accoutrements, and including enterprises dealing with raw materials for the production of these items.
The proposal was approved on first reading by the SP, with stakeholders set to attend a public hearing to thresh out its provisions soon. | CGC
